#undrip

Alberta's toxic tailings ponds — which cover an area over twice the size of the city of Vancouver and are growing daily — contain dangerous levels of mercury, arsenic, and naphthenic acids. Even after treatment, tailings remain high in salinity and naphthenic acids.

While the Minister also stated that this was not the only option being explored, it is the only option that is fast-tracking significant changes to the federal Fisheries Act. Releasing tailings effluent will not only have a detrimental effect on life within the Arctic Ocean Drainage Basin but will also significantly impact what little environmental protections are left for life-giving water across the settler state of Canada.

Our position remains unchanged, and we vehemently oppose the release of “treated” tailings. This is nothing more than another handout to oil companies that will allow them to continue to avoid their responsibility of reclamation and the high cost of cleaning up their own mess. Releasing tailings into the watershed is not a safe or just option for solving Alberta’s ever-growing tailings crisis.

This is a decision that accepts northern Indigenous communities and lands will remain a sacrifice zone for the profit of settler governments, southern populations, and some of the world’s richest mining corporations. Indigenous peoples have already been saddled with the burden of the negative impacts of oil sands extraction on their traditional homelands. This decision will impact Indigenous communities across this country already facing accessible clean water issues. Keepers of the Water demand Free, Prior, and Informed Consent before Canada enacts Fisheries Act regulation changes.

There are many harmful impacts from the oil sands production and leaking toxic tailings ponds, such as low water levels and loss or contamination of critical species, which have effectively forced Indigenous people off their own land. These impacts are exacerbated by increasing impacts from climate change and other expanding industrial activity that changes landscapes forever.

“There is no proven way to turn treated tailings into safe drinking water, but the government process is pushing for tailings release and nothing else,” said Jesse Cardinal, executive director of Keepers of the Water. “It is no coincidence that the oil industry, which is banking record profits, continues to push for ineffective half measures that hurt the communities.”

If Canada is serious about implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples then they need our Free, Prior and Informed Consent before releasing tailings into the water.

You can Take Action Today!

Send a letter to the Minister for Environment Climate Change Canada, Steven Guilbeault, and the Deputy Minister for Environmental Protection, John Moffet, that says NO to the release of “treated” tar sands tailings effluent into the Athabasca River. Link: https://www.keepersofthewater.ca/call-to-action

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For more information contact:

Jesse Cardinal - cell: 780-520-7108, email: [email protected]

Daniel T’seleie - cell: 867-444-0509, email: [email protected]

We need to come together and acknowledge what was done to Native Americans in the name of "civilization."

Mass graves have been found in Canada, with surely others still to be found, and nearly all in the US remain to be located, but they are surely somewhere. What was done to these human beings in the name of ‘civilization’ is shocking. Be prepared: this involves the worst potential of our species. If you experienced childhood abuse of any kind, please take care. [click through for the rest]

If passed, Bill C-15 will be used by the government of Canada to reinforce the status quo because the Bill makes it clear that existing national laws—many of which violate Indigenous rights—will prevail over UNDRIP;

The main sections of Bill C-15, particularly section 2, maintain the common law interpretation of section 35(1) and section 35(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982, which is heavily based on the colonial Doctrine of Discovery, which strips Indigenous people of their land ownership and land rights;

The primacy of the Doctrine of Discovery means Canadian courts will continue to adjudicate using existing case law based on section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and these rulings have caused major harm to the daily life for Indigenous Peoples and Nations including:

The imposition of Crown sovereignty over Indigenous peoples, including self-government rights;

Disregarding Indigenous laws and legal traditions;

Establishing that the Crown has “ultimate title” to land;

The burden of proof imposed on Indigenous Peoples and Nations to establish their rights in Canadian courts;

The ability for the Crown to infringe Aboriginal rights based on the “Sparrow test” that allows infringement of Aboriginal rights under all sorts of circumstances;

Indigenous peoples and people of colour are disproportionately affected by our global climate crisis. But in the mainstream green movement and in the media, they are often forgotten or excluded. This is Tipping Point, a new VICE series that covers environmental justice stories about and, where possible, written by people in the communities experiencing the stark reality of our changing planet.

“My name is Paul Josie. I am 33. I am a Vuntut Gwitchin member and Old Crow is my home. It is the most northwestern community in Canada and has a population of 280 to 300, depending on the season.

Just recently, our chief, Dana Tizya-Tramm, declared a climate change emergency. Over the past few years, we have been seeing a lot of changes on the land. I guess a lot of it comes with being above the Arctic Circle. We are the front lines of climate change and we’ve known that for a long time.

I remember growing up, they would take me out in October, and we would set nets and fish the coho salmon under the ice. Now, we’re looking at December and it’s not even safe to go on the ice in some places. We are learning to travel on the land again as opposed to using the knowledge that was passed on to us from our elders on which way to go, which time of year to go.

Even just this year, we had -4 C in February when usually temperatures are at least -30 C or -40 C. I was dog-sledding in February and it was warm enough to just mush in a sweater.

In March, we had rain. We usually don’t see rain until June. A few years ago we actually had thunder and lightning at the end of May, which we’ve never seen before, where the storms were so powerful.

We’ve also been noticing the organic material that settles at the bottom of lakes is melting and creating methane bubbles. Those create holes in the frozen lakes in spring that are covered by crusted snow, so you have to be very, very cautious when you’re travelling over lakes in the spring. And spring is when people trap muskrat. I remember when I was growing up, May was still a time that we would return from Crow Flats, and now, in mid-April, it’s dangerous to travel because everything’s melting so fast.

With the warmer summer season, a lot of the permafrost is melting. A few years ago, I started to see a lot of mudslides in the Porcupine River, which runs next to Old Crow. There was a huge mudslide that almost blocked Crow River, which leads north into Crow Flats which the Vuntut Gwitchin are named after⁠, “the people of the lakes.” The erosion from the high water and the melted permafrost has made the river wider, and the land is being washed away.

With the climate emergency declaration, we want to get across how important this really is, that the land is changing, the Earth is going through this change. We want to get the word out, create a sense of urgency. And hopefully, it’ll start a ripple effect, one that creates change.”

I hope the point that capital is seeking certainty and therefore wants UNDRIP to be enacted is correct.

This contains the video AND the transcript -explaining what ‘Rule of Law’ means, and how it actually should NOT apply to this situation.

The Federal Government is granting extraordinary rights to Oil Companies, and using the RCMP as its private security forces. This is Colonial Violence.